Abstract
The Neanthes cuticle collagen was found to contain 5% neutral sugar of which 92% was galactose. When the collagen was treated with 0.1 N NaOH at 30°C for 48 hr, 9 residues of threonine and 4 residues of serine per 1000 amino acid residues were destroyed and 10 residues of carbohydrate were liberated by β-elimination. Gel filtration and chemical analyses of the sugar fractions revealed that 71% of the liberated sugar was galactotriose, 20% galac-tobiose, 6% galactose, and only 3% mannose. These galactose mono- and oligosaccharides, accounting for 70% of the total sugar in the collagen, appeared to be linked to threonyl and seryl residues.
